Who am I?
by Renshin
Summary: Ian is a paladin in the world of runemidgard. Action, adventure, and intrigue follow our young hero. Sorry, I'm bad at summaries. R&R please. Rated mainly for language, but there's a moderate amount of violence, too.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: This is my first time submitting my work to Please R&R.

"Jon, now!" Ian shouted as the purple bandaged mummy bore down on him, followed by a mob of yellow bandaged zombies.

"Hold on…." Jon coolly replied.

Ian blocked a swing from Osiris with his shield and chanced a glance at his friend, who was taking aim with his dual pistols. "What the hell are you waiting for?"

"I'm trying to get a good target. Or do you want me to shoot you instead?" Jon said in frustration as he continued to take aim at the purple mummy among the crowd of yellow bandaged zombies.

"Oh, well soooooooooooorry. Here, let me help you." Ian shouted in frustration as he blocked another swing from a mummy with his shield. He raised his sword to the sky and chanted a spell. As he felt the holy energy flow through him, he gathered it all into a single point, and then released it. "GRAND CROSS!"

Holy energy shot out in all directions, with Ian at the center. The energy cut into the mummies, disintegrating all in its path. Only Osiris survived the onslaught. With the boss quite in the open, Jon opened fire with his twin garrison pistols, loaded with holy ammo. As the ammo hit Osiris in the back, they exploded with angelic singing, burning holes into the mummy. The mummy turned to Jon and rushed at him, but he just smirked.

"SACRIFICE!" Ian shouted behind the charging Osiris. A white circle formed around Ian, and then a thin line splintered off and raced at Jon. As it reached him, a white circle formed around him.

Osiris reached the gunslinger and struck, but his strike bounced off the barrier of protection Ian had put up around Jon. Ian, however, felt electricity surge throughout his body as the damage was transferred to him.

"Ian, lower the barrier!" Jon shouted to his Paladin friend.

Ian did so, and Jon jumped back, out of the way of Osiris's next strike. As he sailed back through the air, he took aim for another barrage. "DESPERADO!"

Jon fired a rapid shower of ten holy bullets straight into Osiris's skull. Osiris fell to the ground, and his skull exploded, effectively ending the threat of the ancient evil.

Ian sighed and wiped the sweat away from his eyes. The soft cotton of his shirt felt nice. Other Paladins made fun of him because he refused to wear the heavier armor that was common to his class, nor would he ride a pecopeco.

Ian walked over to his gunslinger friend and offered him a hand, which he took. Jon patted down his black clothes, expelling a few clouds of dust from them.

"Jon, you are one dirty bastard." Ian said, laughing.

"Very funny. You try rolling around on this dirty floor. This place is ancient, remember?" Jon retorted.

"Yeah, yeah." Ian said nonchalantly, as he walked up to the corpse of the dead MVP. He knelt down and began rummaging through the bandages. After a minute, he stood up and waved to his partner. "Got it!"

Jon smiled. In Ian's hand was a card, featuring a cartoonish representation of the monster they had just killed. "Great. Now let's get out of this damn tomb and hand that over to the guys in Morroc."

"Right!" Ian exclaimed with a smile.

And with that, the two friends began walking away from the lifeless corpse of Osiris.

_Meanwhile……….._

"LEAVE ME ALONEEEEEEEE!" shouted a priestess, as she ran for her life. Chancing a glance behind her, she watched as two more mummies joined the group following her, bringing the mob to a grand total of thirty. She sped up, her pink robes flowing behind her.

As she glanced forward again, she realized that she was quickly approaching a wall. With little time to react, she dove to her right, and right into a pair of figures, taking them both with her as she fell to the ground. In a panic, she launched herself off the new threats, drew her mace, and swung wildly at them. The figure nearest to her rolled back, barely avoiding catching a mace in the skull.

"Get away from me, you filthy monsters!" The priestess shouted.

One of the figures reacted, but the other, who had rolled back, put a hand in front of him to stop him. Then, one of the figures spoke.

"Relax, dude. This one's human." Came a low, male, human voice.

Realizing these new threats were, in fact, human, the priestess opened her eyes. The first thing she saw in the torchlight that surrounded them was a pair of cerulean eyes. Then came the pair of silver guns, aimed right at her.

She panicked, and swung her mace at the guns. The man holding the guns, however, jumped back and away from the strike. Two clicks were heard, followed by a bang, then a cry of pain.

The priestess had closed her eyes in response to the clicks, and braced for the pain, but opened them when she heard the cry of pain. She could see blood staining the shirt sleeve of the other figure.

"DUDE! YOU SHOT ME!" The blue eyed figure yelled.

"YOU BLOCKED MY SHOT!" The other figure yelled.

"YOU TRIED TO SHOOT HER!"

"SHE SWUNG AT ME!"

"YOU WERE TRACING HER!"

"Uh, guys…….." The priestess attempted to interrupt the two.

"DICK!"

"RETARD!"

"FATASS!"

"DEAD-EYE!"

"GUYS!" The priestess yelled.

"WHAT?" They both turned and yelled at her.

She walked up to the man who had been shot, and put her hands on his hurt arm.

"Heal" Muttered the priestess. Her hands glowed green, and the glow transferred to his arm.

The man looked at his arm, then at her, then back at his arm, then at her again.

"Thank you." The man said, in a low voice.

"Of course." Responded the priestess.

Suddenly, a loud growl came from behind the priestess, bringing her back to reality. She looked behind her, then back at the two men. "And now it's time to run again" She said with a smile, as she pushed past them.

"What was that about?" said the guy on the left, as he turned to look at his partner.

"Shhhh. Listen." The other man responded.

Two seconds later, a flood of monsters came tearing around the corner.

"WHOA!" The guy with the guns shouted, jumping back. The other man smiled and drew his sword.

"Relax, we can take them." He said, smiling.

Suddenly, a monster that was taller then the rest rounded the corner. It wore a gold headdress. The smiled faded from the face of the man with the sword. He turned to his friend.

"Oh shit. Pharaoh." The two said to each other at the exact same time. "RUN!"

The two turned on their heels, and tore off after the priestess, followed closely by the horde of monsters. They ran into the same priestess a few minutes later, battling three ancient mummies. She saw them coming, and called to them.

"Can you guys help me with these guys?" She shouted.

"HOLY CROSS!" The man with the sword leapt forward and swung his sword, which was imbued with holy power, and took down one of the mummies immediately.

"Thank you!" The priestess said.

The swordsman, however, without responding or missing a step, ran at her, grabbed her, hoisted her onto his shoulder, and continued running.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" The priestess shouted.

"No time. Must run." The swordsman said as he continued running, followed closely by his friend.

And so, they ran. They ran and ran. Until, that is, they came to a dead end.

"Oh, god dammit. I hate this place." The swordsman said, as he let the priestess down.

"What now?" The gunslinger asked as he turned to his friend.

"Dunno. Stand and fight?"

"Man, it's Pharaoh. The thing'll slaughter us!"

"What else can we do? We're at a dead end!"

"Umm, guys? I have an idea. Do either of you happen to have a blue gem?" The priestess interrupted them by saying.

Both of the men stopped. After a moment, the swordsman reached into his side-pack, pulled out a blue gemstone, and handed it to the priestess.

"They're coming." The gunslinger said, as he slid fresh clips into his garrisons.

"We need to give her time to cast. Let's do it."

And the enemies came. They came in droves. The gunslinger opened fire as soon as they emerged from the darkness, and two of the mummies immediately dropped. The swordsman leapt forward, and two more mummies fell to his sword. A zombie made a grab for the swordsman, but he ducked out of the way, just as the zombie and two of the mummies surrounding him fell to a hail of holy bullets.

The priestess, meanwhile, was praying with all her might. The spell for opening a warp portal was a long and complicated one, but she needed to hurry, before her two new friends were engulfed by the undead.

"Shit! There's too many of them!" The swordsman said, as he jumped back, out of the horde of undead, taking two more zombies down as he went.

The gunslinger turned to the priestess for an instant. "Hurry up! We ain't got all day!"

"Almost……..Got it! WARP PORTAL!" Shouted the priestess, as a circular portal the same color as her robes opened in the floor.

"Finally. Let's get going, Ian!" The gunslinger said, as he turned and ran into the portal.

The priestess froze at the gunslingers words.

"Ian?" She said, as if in disbelief.

Ian, the swordsman in question, ran towards the portal, and noticed that the priestess seemed to be frozen in place.

"Come on! We need to go!" He said as he ran up to the priestess, took her hand, and practically pulled her into the portal, which closed behind them.

**End of chapter 1.**


	2. Chapter 2

Welcome to Chapter 2. Not having internet at home is a bother. Anyway...R&R please. And as always, enjoy.

It was afternoon on a sunny, peaceful meadow. Unhindered by trees, a warm, pleasant breeze wafted through this small patch of paradise, catching the grass, which waved in response. Small, jelly-like monsters roamed around at random, looking for food. Nearby, two rabbits were fighting over a carelessly dropped carrot.

Suddenly, a pink pillar of light open up from the ground, interrupting the peace of this meadow. The monsters ran for cover, just as three a human with green hair, clad in a black overcoat came running out of the pillar, followed by a pair of figures, one clad in pink, the other in white, who tumbling out of the light pillar, which closed behind them.

Ian got to his feet, then helped the priestess up. He looked around, trying to find something he recognized.

"Where are we?" Ian said, as he ran a hand through his silver hair, trying to straighten it.

"Well, we're not in that pyramid anymore. That's all I care about" Responded Jon.

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

"Well, what now?"

"We still need to get to Morroc." Ian said, as he turned to the priestess. "Thank you for the help. What are you going to do now?"

The priestess hadn't said anything since they stepped out of the portal. She had just silently watched Ian the whole time. Now that he knew he was being scrutinized, he backed off slightly. He could almost feel her green eyes piercing into him.

"Wh-what is it? Is there something on my face?" Ian asked uncomfortably. He wasn't used to being this close to such a cute girl.

She stared intently at Ian for a minute more, then spoke up.

"You're……….Ian?" She asked, smiling.

"Um…..yes?"

"This is going to sound kind of strange, but…….. do you have a large scar on your back?"

Ian's face went pale.

"How did you……..W-who are you, anyway?"

The smile that had crept onto the priestess's face quickly faded.

"I guess you don't remember me. I guess I can't really blame you. It has been 10 years, after all. Not to mention………."

"What do you……….." Ian started, but the priestess sighed, turned, and started walking away.

"We're two miles south of Prontera. Morroc is a short walk west from here. Have a safe trip, guys." She said, as she walked off, her waist-length blonde hair flowing in the breeze behind her.

Jon started walking west, but stopped when he noticed that Ian wasn't following him.

"Let's going, Ian. We still need to deliver that card."

"But……" Ian started, watching the priestess as she walked off.

"C'mon. You can catch up to your girlfriend later." Jon said as he walked off towards Geffen.

"She's not my girlfriend! I don't even know her name….." Ian protested, as he ran to catch up with his friend.

"Hey, whatever you say, man. Let's just go. I wanna complete this little task so we can get the reward."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."

_Later that day, in Izlude, the Satellite city……_

"Man, I hate walking. First to Morroc, then back to Izlude. Didn't help at that we had to walk through the desert, either. _Twice, _in fact. Shoot me now." Jon complained, as he followed Ian into the city that held their guild house. Ian turned to his friend, hoisting a large, heavy bag of zeny onto his shoulder.

"You're the one with guns. Shoot yourself. Besides, it was worth it. We made a shit load off Osi."

"I don't know about that. That Card exchange office smelled worse then that damn pyramid."

"Well, can't argue with you there. Now come on, we need to get this money to the guild, so I can………" Ian stopped short, both physically and in speech. He used his free hand to slap himself on the forehead, then braced for what he knew was coming.

"Go look for that priestess? I KNEW IT! You're sweet on her, aren't you? Not that I can blame you, or anything. She was fine." Jon shouted, getting the attention of everyone who happened to be on the entrance bridge.

"Shut up, you! It's not like that, and you know it."

"Sure it's not, lover boy. Sure it's not."

"You'd better shut up, or I'm gonna hurt you." Ian said, as he took a swing at Jon, who easily dodged out of the way, laughing.

"You can _try, _buddy. I think we both know you can't catch me, though."

"You're just lucky you're older then me."

"Not just older, but taller too. And better looking, at least according to the ladies."

"Oh, and don't forget obsessed with yourself. That's one of your more prominent traits." Ian said mockingly.

"Oh yeah? Well…." Jon started, but was interrupted by a sudden scream.

Ian and Jon looked at each other, then ran towards the source of the scream, the bridge that served as the entrance to Izlude. As they reached the gate, they saw a lone guard standing, albeit barely, supported by his spear.

Judging from his uniform, Ian could tell he was a guard from Prontera. Gathered around him was a blue haired female acolyte and Izludes resident Kafra employee, Curly Sue, trying to heal his wounds, one of which was a large gash in his right side. There was also a green haired wizard, trying to get some answers out of the poor man.

"What happened? Hey! Talk to me!"

"M-monsters………Prontera…….T-they're Invading. Tried to stop them……..They outnumbered us……." The guard managed to choke out, then fainted.

Ian turned to Jon and shoved the bag of zeny into his arms.

"Jon, take this to the guild house, then tell Cody and the others to get to Pront. I'm going on ahead."

Jon gave Ian a sly grin in response, and began to say something, but Ian interrupted him.

"I know what you're gonna say, and don't. We really don't have time for this now. You can make fun of me later. Right now, we need to help Prontera."

"Fine, I'll see you there." Jon said, as he ran off with the zeny.

Ian, in turn, ran past the guard, and into the field that separated Izlude from the much larger city of Prontera. As he approached the city walls, Ian could clearly hear the sounds of battle, steel clanging off of steel, the low hum of spells being cast, and a chorus of screams, only half of which were recognizably human. As he ran into the city, Ian immediately came face to ugly face with two monsters he recognized from wanted posters all over Rune-Midgard.

Flanked by large, fat, green orcs, all of which had bows, was an orc larger then any of them who wore a Viking-like bone hem.

Also, flanked by larger, grey orcs, was an orc who stood at least 10 feet tall, and wore a large, celebratory head-dress.

Ian sighed, and drew his sword, an ornately decorated tsurugi with a black hilt. On the right side of the blade was the crest of Ian's guild, a round shield with the letters I, C, and J engraved in gold on it.

"Great. That's fecking awesome. Orc Hero AND Orc Lord. TOGETHER. This'll be fun." He said to no one in particular, as he took up a fighting stance.

Spotting this new challenger, some of the orcs with bows turned away from the group of humans they were harassing, and fired a volley of arrows at Ian. Ian looked up, watched the arrows sail through the air straight towards him, and smirked.

"DEFENDER" Shouted Ian, as he raised his shield into the air, to block the arrows. Suddenly, a white mist protruded from his shield, and completely covered Ian. The arrows sailed true, but as soon as they hit this mist, they stopped completely, and fell harmlessly to the ground.

Ian charged at the orcs and slashed, taking three of the archers out immediately, in a fountain of green blood. This caught the attention of the Orc Lord, who came running, giant shoulder first, to assist its servants.

For being so big, the creature was undeniably fast, covering the distance between it and the human in a matter of seconds. Ian barely had time to dodge a shoulder rush that, had it hit, would have crushed the swordsman's bones.

Realizing it had missed, the Orc turned to make another pass. Ian, however, was ready for this.

"SHIELD CHAIN!" Ian drew back, then threw his shield like a discus, directly at the charging orc. The orc, however, saw the projectile coming, and effortlessly swatted it out of the way. Ian watched as his shield, propelled by orc's blow, lodged itself into the brick wall of what was once a house. The orc continued its charge, as if nothing had happened.

Without his shield, the mist created by the defender spell dissipated. Ian dived out of the way as another volley of arrows rained down on the spot he occupied not 5 seconds ago.

He rose to his feet just in time to see the Orc Lord barreling straight towards him. With no time to dodge, Ian closed his eyes and braced for the impact.

"FROST DRIVER!"

A shout came from behind Ian, followed by a line of ice along the ground. The ice made contact with the charging orc, and froze it in place.

"You ok, Ian?"

"It took you long enough, Tony. Where are the others?" Ian said, as he turned to face the black-cloak clad High Wizard. His brown hair waved dramatically in the wind as he raised his hand into the air and charged another spell.

"Oh, you know Cody. As soon as we got her, he just HAD to go after the toughest thing in sight, which happened to be a Doppelganger, so he and Jon are somewhere around the center. I saw you were having trouble, so I decided to come bail you out."

"Ah, I see….. Oh, watch out on your left." Ian said nonchalantly.

"STORM GUST!" Shouted Tony, as the Orc Hero closed in on his left. Suddenly, a giant storm of snow and ice formed around Tony, and anything that touched the swirling mass of cold instantly froze. "I heard from Jon that you have a little _incentive _for being here. Don't worry, I got this. You go on ahead."

Ian made a mental note to _hurt _Jon, then nodded to his guild mate, ran over to his shield and pried it out of the wall and continued on towards the center of town. Tony, in turn, turned to his frozen, helpless enemies and smirked as he charged up a Lord of Vermilion spell.

The nearer Ian got to the center of town, the more chaotic the battle became. Monster entrails and dead bodies littered the street, as well as carelessly discarded weapons. Small battles between monster and human were raging everywhere. Priests had miniature safe areas set up alongside the main road using their sanctuary skill, but these safe areas were filling up fast with the injured.

Ian looked around for his guild mates, and spotted an assassin cross dressed in a tattered, red sneak suit taking on a ghostly swordsman. A few feet behind them was Jon, firing away at the monster. Ian ran up to Jon and patted him on the shoulder, then dodged a hail of bullets as Jon reacted to being touched from behind during a battle.

"Nice reflexes, dead eye. If I were a monster, you'd be meat." Ian said, laughing.

Jon laughed too, then squeezed off a few shots, which Ian barely avoided. "You're just too weak to register as a threat. Otherwise, I would've sensed you coming."

Ian was about to protest Jon's claim of weakness, but was interrupted by the cold, monotone voice of their leader.

"Jon, concentrate on the monster. Ian, if you're looking for that priestess, try looking near the castle." Cody said nonchalantly, as he swiftly dodged out of the way of a strike by the ghostly swordsman, and counted with a double strike to his side.

"How do you………" Ian started to ask, but was quieted by a "You idiot" look from Cody. "Oh right, this is you we're talking about."

With a nod, Ian left his two friends to their work, and continued north, towards the castle. As he approached the castle, Ian noticed that the destruction was getting worse. Only three houses he could see still stood, and they all had large chunks missing. The sickening smell of death permeated from all sides, causing Ian to gag on the putrid air.

Despite the smell, Ian kept going. The large castle of King Tristan the Third loomed ahead. As he approached the entrance to the large wall around the castle, Ian stopped cold. He had found the priestess. Unfortunately, she was standing between a group of half dead acolytes and a very large, very angry looking goat monster with an even larger scythe.

"Oh crap. That's a Baphomet. I'd need Cody to take that thing down." Ian said, to no one in particular.

At that point, Ian almost considered going back and getting his guild mates, but decided against it. There wouldn't be time, and they had doppelganger to deal with anyway.

From here, Ian could see the priestess arguing with the MVP. He couldn't hear what was being said, but Bapho kept gesturing to the acolytes behind the priestess, and she in turn shook her head and yelled.

Bapho raised the scythe above his head, and at that point, Ian started running towards them. As he was about to strike, Ian shouted.

"Hey, you goat bastard!" Ian screamed as he ran, getting the attention of both the monster and the priestess.

As the MVP turned to face him, Ian leapt into the air and barreled into it, shoulder first. Both of them fell to the ground, and Ian quickly rolled to his feet, putting himself between the priestess and the MVP.

"Ian………"

Ian looked back at her and smiled, then turned to the MVP as it rose to it's feet and took up a fighting stance.

"Don't worry, I've got him. You get those acolytes to safety."

"I can't. They're hurt, and can't be moved."

Ian stopped and looked back again. The group the priestess was protecting consisted of 5 acolytes; 2 male and 3 female. They were all in pretty bad shape, but the male with blonde hair was the worst by far. He was missing a leg. The other 4 were trying desperately to stop the bleeding and patch the wound, but didn't seem to have enough power. She was right. They couldn't be moved, not in that condition.

Sensing movement from the other direction, Ian turned just in time to parry a strike from baphomet's scythe with his sword. Though it didn't hit directly, the force of the heavy downward strike was enough to knock him to one knee. It was easy to see that the paladin was easily outmatched by the monster.

"Dammit" Ian said, as he rose to his feet and dodged another strike. "now what do I do?"

**End of chapter 2.**


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